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Dragon Ball Z's Vegeta Voice Actors Chris Sabat, Ryo Horikawa Collaborate

American voice actor and anime dub director Chris Sabat held auditions at Japanese voice actor Ryō Horikawa's IAM Agency voice acting agency in Tokyo last month, in order to find Japanese voice actors who will act in future English dubs of anime. Sabat and Horikawa happen to be the voice actors for Dragon Ball Z's Vegeta in their respective languages.

Attending the audition were IAM voice actors Ayako Kamegai, Kenichi Miya (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's' Dragan), Erika Matsui, Shiori Katsuta (Lego Chima ~Animal Senshi-tachi no Densetsu~'s Crunket), Mariko Toribe, Asuka Yūki (Sparrow's Hotel's Yū Kojō), and Nao Shigeno, who were chosen in the preliminary round of auditions before Sabat arrived in Tokyo due to his busy schedule. Each actor received praise from Sabat due to the fact that not only were none of them native English-speakers, but many of the participants did not even speak English as a second language, with a few voice actors admitting that they worked a week to learn the English audition lines. Many of the participants also told Sabat that the Magical Dreamers and Rainy Cocoa e-Manga helped them learn their lines.

After the audition, some of the actors previewed some of the lines for an upcoming anime title in the recording booth. Sabat has said that he will consult Funimation about letting those who he chooses to appear as extras in the dub of the upcoming anime.

Sabat and Horikawa have been working together on projects for at least two years, with Sabat voicing characters in the Magical Dreamers and Rainy Cocoa e-manga.